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TEN DAY YOU CHALLENGE POST 2: LOVES

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Day two of my ten day challenge. I hope to keep it up.
The Nine Loves of my life
     1.       I love all my friends, they are very dear to me. Friendship is something which I treasure because it’s not very often that you have great friends. But when you have you know will know they’ll be with you.
      2.       I love my family. I owe a lot to my parents and my extended family for making me who I am – not that I am some big shot celeb. But it’s from the family that you learn to give love and share happiness. It also includes my husband and in-laws because when you love and respect people they love you back!

My soul mate
     3.       I looooooove to sleep. As I mentioned earlier I can give a good competition to the laziest sloth, I can sleep may be for an entire day. I remember days in PG when me and my roommate use to laze around on our beds every weekend. Somehow wake up for 15 mins in the afternoon and sleep again J 
    4.       I always look forward for a nice vacation. Discovering a new place – city/country/village has its own charm. At times I feel the peaks or the waters are calling me. I travelled to a lot of places, and I think it only makes you wiser, broadens your mind and makes you happy
My Retail Therapy works every time
     5.       How can I miss out SHOPPING! Those who know me they know how much I love to shop J. I am a complete shopaholic. If I am in a bad mood I go for my retail therapy, if I am in good mood then obviously I splurge. At times I shop without reason/requirement/want. My friends in PG were almost tired of my shopping trips and I also asked the landlord to provide me with an extra cupboard coz I couldn’t fit my stuffs in the one I already had!!
     6.       Dance is my passion, I love the energy that you get after dancing. And I always loved the compliments I got when I used to give performances with our troupe back in Kolkata. This is one love which grew in me gradually when I did very badly in my first year Katthak exam. I don’t think I had realised my potential before that. Its only when I was preparing for my second year exam I thought I can do much better only if I give a little more care & love to it. And viola I came with first class distinction and made my mom very happy.
     7.       As a kid I was inseparable from my teddy bear. I couldn’t pronounce teddy that time and used to call it ‘teli’ and it still remains my teli. Its way old and rugged but it still occupied my bed in my room in Kol. And I am planning to bring it to BLR now though now the population of teddies in my house is like China!
I wish to taste all sorts of flavors
available worldwide
     8.       I can have ice cream all day long… I was, am and always will be the biggest fan of ICE CREAM. I am sure I am going to have diabetes when I am older since everyone in my family has so before I have to stop slurping I want to enjoy ice cream as much as I want. I can sit and finish one huge party pack all by myself J
I miss u the most
     9.       Sweets & street Food – Being a bong has some benefits – you get to eat mind blowing sweets and great street food.  Like every Bengali I too have a major sweet tooth. And I miss all those sweets here. I am an absolute crazy fan of ‘Phuchka’,’Churmur’, ‘Ghugni’, ‘Alurdom’ Egg Roll, Chicken Roll, Fish fry, Cutlet, Fish ‘Kobiraji’…. And I can keep on naming it. I am sure all the Bengalis who stay far from Kolkata can empathize with me.
    
 Image Source: Google Images

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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

TEN DAY YOU CHALLENGE POST 1: SECRETS

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

 

I have been looking forward to writing on this very interesting series of posts ever since I read it in my friend Debosmita’s blog. And within the last few weeks I think everyone has tagged themselves to the 10 Day You Challenge.   Now that I have some time I think it’s my time to tag along!
This is how it works. One has to post for ten consecutive days, on the topics mentioned in the image. Well I am not sure if I can live up to the ten consecutive posting every day, but let’s see… And I guess, by the end of the ten posts a mini auto biography will be ready. Since I cannot resist any more let me start spilling the beans.

TEN SECRETS ABOUT MY SELF
 
   1.  I am super talkative: My teachers at school always complained to my mother at every PTA ‘your daughter is very talkative’. This talkative nature never left me. When I do not have anyone to talk to I start talking to myself. And I simply love that – I talk to myself like a friend, philosopher and guide J And at times I do yell at myself if I realize I am wrong. Once, irritated with my jabbering my mum had told me to go and talk to the wall in my room. I guess it all started with that. But I love being my friend J
    2.     I am lazy to the core. I’ll have million ideas to do this and that at home/office but I almost always give in to my lazy nature. I can give serious competition to the laziest sloth J
   3.    I hate milk. I have always hated it in my life so far. My mum used to run behind me with a glass of milk every single day and I used to come up with new plans of throwing it away (it’s not something great that I used to do, I realize now, but I was a kid.) The day I was over with my tenth standard final exams I got a written letter signed by my mum that she will never force me for drinking milk! After that I have only drank milk in form of hot chocolate, milk shake etc J [Disclaimer: KIDS DON’T READ THIS POST]
   4.   My friends say I am very unlike a Scorpio, but I know where my Scorpio trait lies. I never forget or forgive a person who wronged me. I may not take a destructive revenge (I might like to actually) but I never forget the incident or person involved – I can recollect it as if it happened yesterday.
   5.    I hate people who take advantage of me, my help and at times I wish all hell breaks loose on them J
   6.   I absolutely love travelling and have gone on for short vacations by myself without telling anyone! 10 days before my marriage I was attending a friends engagement in Kerala all in secrecy J and only a handful of my friends knew about it coz they were there with me.
   7.   I have done blunders in some of my vacations.
i)        I lost my little money in a casino in Genting Highlands, I borrowed some dollars from a friend and lost that tooL. (I gave it back the next day though).
ii)       In Italy I couldn’t resist the awesome red wine and since I knew my parents won’t like me drinking I sat with my guide and the Italian driver in the front of the bus and gulped down the small wine bottles(Not the Roman way I guess )J.
iii)     We were in a first class train travelling from Cairo to Aswan. I was sharing my coup with a friend, the entire compartment was given to our huge group. When everyone chose veg instead of beef we went up straight to the pantry in secrecy and ordered beef for us and enjoyed it with local beer (the beer wasn’t great though). Till this day I don’t think many knew about this.
There are many more stuffs that we had done – especially in Bangalore (college & PG), Cairo, Aswan, Istanbul and Paris. Its better I do not reveal it here, but all those friends who were partners in crime are reading this they’ll know what fun we had.
 
   8.       I am very very very bad in maths. I sometimes take minutes in calculating silly stuffs when I am in shops.
   9.       I always wanted to be a doctor. I was good in biology. But I did so bad in maths in my tenth that I didn’t take up science. But I have ready anatomy on my own – I keep reading on anatomy whenever I find a chance. And I do have acquired some knowledge about little human body parts.
  10.   I used to sing quite well when I was young, me and my cousins used to record our voices in cassettes. There used to be a family duel since my dad wanted me to learn music and my mom wanted me to learn classical dance [typical bong parent traits]. Most of my cousins used to sing very well. My dad got me a music teacher. The first day he came and told me – ‘from now on No Cold Drink, No Cold Water, NO ICE CREAM, no sour food’ that day I decided NO MUSIC for me. Somehow I got rid of that teacher and concentrated more on dance. But dance is something I have loved always and have been dancing from a age of 3 or 4. Now if I feel like singing I limit myself to the bathroom or someplace where I am alone. 
     
     So tomorrow is the the Nine Loves Day.
     
     Image Source: Google Images
 
 
 
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Parking Woes

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

I am finally back from hibernation. My vanishing act is a consequence of all the wrong things that’s happening with me these days. I spoke to a friend of mine after a long time this morning and she confirmed me that this will continue for some time L. She is reading Bejan Daruwala for some time (very unlike her, I thought) and according to him this year isn’t that good for Scorpio and that’s why she could empathize with me as she too is in the same boat.

I don’t want to go into astrology but definitely something is wrong. All hell breaks loose these days whenever I am planning something or I wish to do something. So I am getting all frustrated, infuriated, irritated, exasperated and am definitely in a mood to kill…     

The one hard learnt lesson that I came across recently is NEVER EVER BELIEVE PEOPLE.  Yes I did exactly that which mostly people do not do – Believing in people and then finding myself in the rough. I thought my landlady was nice and I was also sweet to them. Now I find myself in a situation where they seem to have bulldozed my dream of my first superbuy – My desire of Swift Dzire L. When we had taken up this place our landlady had informed that the parking would be available September onwards. Now that September was approaching I took up some more driving lessons to brush up myself (I found I had forgotten the basics though – but I was driving after a 5 year gap J). I was ready with my RnD to invest in a big fat sedan the Dzire. And this is the time when one fine day I got a mail from my landlady stating we will have to pay extra rent for the parking space! And that too 18K a year!!! As I read the mail I felt all sorts of cyclones happening right on top of my head.
Seems like a dream now

All the time that we had spoken about parking this sleek phrase ‘extra rent for parking’ was nicely concealed and kept under wraps. So now I feel cheated, I feel hurt and I feel stupid. I was stupid to think that they were nice people.  The only thing prevailing in people’s mind is greed. Everyone is waiting for the slightest chance to rob you. If only I had thought all these before. No point in lamenting now.

Now that I don’t have a parking space, I can’t buy the car …. Humphrrr.. L Shifting again is like a mammoth task. I wish I had BumbleBee or Optimus Prime whom I could change into a lil box and take it along with me every time I wanted to park!
Come to me for a change
 Images : Google Images
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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

It Happens Only In India…

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

 

No I am not singing the famous Govinda song. But the situation in India is almost similar. Everything happening in India seems to be getting weird and worse by the day. I am feeling sorry for all the people who had fought and given their lives across the 200 years to bring Independence to our country. We celebrated our 64th Independence Day a few days back, but I have some serious doubts… Are we Independent at all? Is it a printing mistake in the preamble to our constitution that India is ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’? Or what is it? Let me understand this in detail.

Full Text – Preamble to the Constitution of India
Q: Are we a Socialist country?
A: NO. I can only see discrimination everywhere – in every caste, color, creed, sex language EVERYWHERE. Oh yes the Govt. has definitely kept in mind the economic distribution bit. They distributed all sorts of wealth beautifully and in abundance – ONLY IN THEIR POCKETS AND IN THEIR SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS. The welfare society is not for the general public, it seems more like the ‘Wealthy-fare society’ for all sorts of politicians in India.
Q: Are we a Secular country?
A: NO. No religion is spared from intolerance across the geography of the country.
Q: Are we a Democratic country?
A: DEFINITELY NOT. Instead of having ‘One man One vote’ we have ‘no man many votes’.
Q: Are we a Republic?
A: I doubt. We are still under Monarchy. The Monarchy of Black Politics, Monarchy of Corruption. And this monarchy is always almost hereditary – the famous family in the centre, father son duo in the South.
There is no JUSTICE in the country – the ‘aam aadmi’ pays price with their lives and the cons get away easily. Example: innumerous terrorists who take tremendous joy in killing people of India but they are put in safe custody and fed like kings with the tax payer’s money for ages.  Cops rape women and no one is there to register a FIR.
LIBERTY – Yes we do have Liberty shoes, but we do not have liberty which the constitution promises. Freedom of Speech/Expression – what a joke – A frail old man announcing to sit on fast is arrested and thrown in jail – where is liberty?
EQUALITY of status – Yes we have – only if you have money (not white hard earned money, but some pitch dark money) or if you are in politics or a son/daughter of a politician. If you are neither of the two then you can completely erase the word ‘equality’ from your dictionary.
FRATERNITY – Forget about dignity of an individual, the country itself is losing (if not already lost) its dignity.
In short India is exactly opposite of what the constitution describes her as. Am I being sarcastic? Yes… May be no… this is exactly what the situation is in the country. I am feeling bad that my country is looking like a helpless sinking ship… sinking in the black waters of CORRUPTION. Pick out any politician from any part of the country there is 99.99% (if not 100%) chances that he/she is corrupt– just like how you will always find water saline from any part of the sea.
Is this why so many people lost their lives for India’s Independence? Is this how we repay them? Every single day there is a scam unveiled. There is a scam in every damn thing – Govt, Politics, Education, Hospitals, Judiciary, Bureaucrats – name it and you have scams. Check here if you need details.
It is almost like corruption in India leads to promotion and not prison. If someone is wanted in cases of murder/rape/extortion it guarantees them an entry ticket in Politics and next term you will find them as your corporator, MLA and some day even a CM!
It’s time that we stop being ignorant and stop believing in eye wash. And yes for God’s sake stop repeating ‘The legacy of Congress’, ‘The Legacy of the first family of Indian Politics’ – another joke – what has congress done for the country anyways? [Not that any other party has done any good]. Why is it believed that rural India needs education? Is there anyone in this first family who is educated? People declare random degrees in their resume without any authenticity but Indians are made to believe “oh he has gone to Harvard so he must be educated and wise”, when are we going to stop believing in eyewash??? You don’t need to believe me check here & here for facts. How long are we going to be dominated by the Sarkar Raj (in literal meaning) and the circus of Indian Politics?
Look at the double standards of UPA Govt. –
1. Rahul Gandhi had announced before visiting Bhatta-Parsoul…he was never detained that time but  Anna Hazare was arrested just after announcing that he is going to sit on fast.
2. Rahul violated article 144, his detention is justified, Anna did not violate any article but arrested from his residence.
3. Rahul was detained and marched to Delhi, but was not jailed, Anna was jailed with the likes of Kalmadi & A.Raja.
What did the Govt want, to get the frail old lone man fighting to curb corruption, influenced by the kings of corruption like Kalmadi??
What does the ‘aam admi ‘do in this case? Feel sorry we chose a wrong party to rule? But then what, the other party coming in power will again turn corrupt. India and the tax payers of India have become like oil mines – people in power keep digging and filling their pockets.
Politics in India need some genuinely educated politicians.. yes genuinely educated not someone who produces false claims and fake certificates. Such a huge nation with so less wise people… What a shame! May be that day we can retain India’ brain and wise men in the country rather than see them serving for some other nation’s development. Only asking people to speak in Hindi/Marathi or changing names of cities and states will not do anything good. Hope this Lokpal bill is passed and helps us to curb corruption.  From my part I will never give bribe to any Govt official (read traffic police) I think next time I see a traffic cop asking for bribe I’ll hand over a green tea pack – “hari patti’ J
 Image source: Google Images
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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

Tag: Fashion disaster, Am I?

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

I am reading a lot these days… reading books and sooooo many blogs…. At times I feel tired of working working working and some more working… it’s always better to take a break between work to have a fresh mind. I call it a creative break to keep away the creative mind’s block J.


While on such a surfing spree I came across a cute and funny Tag post on fashion and brands here. So I thought I’ll tag myself J. I think tag posts are lot of fun. 

Coming to fashion, while in college I was quite fashion savvy when it came to bags, watches and shoes. I still am and have a huuuuuge fetish on shoes and bags. Indro had almost frozen in awe/shock/disbelief when I declared I needed a lot of storage space for my 57 pairs of shoes. J Yes I do posses them and now I have stopped counting them:D. And I am equally crazy on collecting bags of all shapes. It’s good to splurge at times. My friends always pulled my leg whenever I came back from a shopping trip. But the retail therapy is good at times to change mood. 😀 It so works for me. This just reminded me there are so many things I can write on such shopping trips – some other post some other time may be. J
So here goes the tag – if you like it then tag-along. I have modified the list a bit and have changed/added some stuffs .
The Tag is on How many of these fashion items do you have? A list of must-have fashion items for men and women which some website has complied!
Guides to adhere:
(1) Copy the list on your blog. (2) Bold those items that you have, italicize the ones you don’t fit into anymore!!! (3) If you have an alternate or BETTER brand, write it. (4) Tag your friends to see how they’re going. Tag me as well so I can see your responses ! [rules are also copied from JB]

    1. Little black dress   – Yep I do have 2 of them, one of which had floored Indro when I wore it on our second date on Vday J

    1. Black flats  – I so love them
    2. Gold hoop earrings  – I so hate wearing gold
    3. Mac waterproof mascara 
    4. A black clutch  – I love my bags
    5. Sling bag  – yep I do
    6. Gucci /Hermes-Berkin/Chanel/Prada Bag  – Sadly have 2 D&Gs only L
    7. Light-colored cotton saree/ A vintage summer dress 
    8. Summer scarf 
    9. Bright-colored umbrella – Currently using a bright green one
    10. A red/purple/blue handbag  – J
    11. Over-sized t-shirt  – Many
    12. Pencil skirt   – L I don’t fit into it [howling]
    13. Black crepe/georgette saree 
    14. Louboutin shoes/high heels – L Want a Jimmy Choo
    15. Le Smoking Jacket/Suit By YSL  – I only have perfumes by YSL
    16. Trench coat 
    17. Crisp white cotton button-down blouse/shirt  
    18. Solid wash jeans 
    19. Leather jacket 
    20. Pair of black pumps 
    21. Knee-length boots 
    22. Silver earrings/baalis/hoops 
    23. Leather / satin/ kid gloves 
    24. Sexy black/red stilettos 
    25. Turquoise stone bangles 
    26. Ipod 
    27. Platform shoes 
    28. Sexy swimsuit 
    29. Toe ring 
    30. Tattoo – My only tattoo experience till date are the ones that you used to get with Boomer when I was in school
    31. Black tank-top 
    32. Hot pants 
    33. Kajal/kohl 
    34. Banarasee/KanjivaramSaree Or an ethnic dress purchased when travelling 
    35. Beach sarong 

      37.  Oversized  sunglasses 
      38. White salwar kameez/ white pencil pants 
      39.  An evening gown/ Chic racing wear
      40.   Classic leather belt
      41.   Lingerie By Victoria’s Secret  – L
      42.   Summer hat OR a gorgeous racing hat
      43.   Chanel/Hugo Boss/Dior/YSL Perfume – J All thanks to Indro
      44.   Silk stockings
      45.   Iphone  – I wish I had one
      46.   Kundan choker/ studded choker 
      47.   Pearl necklace 
      48.   Faux-fur outerwear 
      49.   Halterneck dress/halter top 
      50.   Body-piercing 
      51.   Silver /junk anklet/bracelet/armlet 
      52.   Clinique set – and also by SHESEIDO
      53.    Churidaar-kameez Or skinny jeans
      54.    Platinum band/Ring – My precious engagement ring
      55.  Bracelet watch
 
So I think I have a lot of these, so I am not a disaster. That’s great in fact. But the saddest part, for most of these I have to wait till a weekend or a vacation! But again a question arose in my mind, is following brands fashion??

 

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A Muggle feeling enchanted

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

I am not an avid reader, I never have been. In fact, I hardly have the patience to finish off a book.  Quite opposite to my parents though. My mom thinks, eats, lives within books and I always wonder how she keeps on reading and how can someone be so patient to sit and keep on reading those monstrous sized books! But as they say, evolution is inevitable. I feel with time I have evolved as someone who enjoys reading novels and short stories apart from the dosage of usual thriller, murder mysteries, loads of news portals & blogs! I know it came in quite late but I am happy that it came and my mom is utterly surprised with this change (surprised for the good I guess)!


Thus it is not surprising that I had kept myself away from the stupendously famous wizard of all time thinking that’s a kiddie fantasy story and I better read Mills & Boon or some other Dan Brown thriller. My little knowledge about the great Harry Potter was only through some movies which I had seen in random order making myself more confused.

Nevertheless, now that the world is celebrating the death of the ‘Dark Lord’, Star Movies, HBO & WB have been kind enough to telecast all Harry Potter movies almost every day and I am trying to update myself. On one such afternoon, when a very good friend (an ardent Harry Potter fan) was visiting us for lunch we enjoyed Harry Potter and the Secret Chambers post lunch. Since I have been a slothful soul I never cared to read the books, and obviously was lost.

But it’s my friend who effortlessly and tirelessly explained me the entire story with plots which were not even present in the movie. And surprisingly I got interested in reading those fat books! I didn’t believe myself when I hopped on to one of the bookstores searching for the HP series! But they were out of stock. With the release of Deathly Hallows part 2 I guess many like me wanted to update themselves on Mr. Potter. So I decided to download the e-books and read them. J

I found it rather interesting to imagine the Dursleys and Weasley’s Flying car. I found it so addictive that I finished off the first book in a day! That is so unnatural of me but yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never felt it as a novel for kids contradicting to all my earlier conceptions on HP. I guess sometimes you need to let go yourself and allow your mind to wander the Hogwarts way. J  

I was looking forward to the last movie after all the positive and flowery reviews and comments everywhere. I managed to watch the Deathly Hallows part 1, from Indro’s movie library (he actually has one!), so that I don’t feel lost while watching the second part. And so enchanted I feel now about Harry that I ended up in the theater last week all by myself to watch him bring peace! [I didn’t find any one to accompany me, and I didn’t want to wait for another week].

Now I have taken a challenge to finish off reading all the books of the series (currently am on book3) and not the other way round as I did with Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Yes I so love to take shortcuts! But no more… not at least with books and movies. I had seen Da Vinci Code when I was in school and didn’t find it as interesting as the hullabaloo about it in the media. When in college I read the book borrowing it from some friend. And like any other book lover I couldn’t stop reading it – I read it in class, read it in card, read it while eating. Now I know how my mom can sit nights together on the couch with eyes glued to books. BTW so far Da Vinci code has been the best thriller I have read (from the little list of books that I have read).

JK Rowling hats off to your power of visualization and imagination which turned a Muggle like me into an enchanted fan of the ‘boy who lived’. I know this is coming in quite late… but I am happy that I saved myself from missing a lot of action any further. I hope I finish off reading all the books by next weekJ.

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